Reported by Katalin Pearman, Honorary Consul
Report on the December 2022 Remote Consular Days
Dr. Imola Szabó, Lead Consul at the Los Angeles Consulate General and Katalin Pearman, Honorary Consul of Washington and Idaho successfully conducted 4 days of Remote Consular Days, where a record number of clients were seen. Of all the remote consular days held in states their jurisdiction (19 states belong to the Consulate General in Los Angeles), this was by far the busiest event. Many thanks to all the clients who arrived on time with all the filled-out forms and documentation, and who waited patiently when we ran a bit behind schedule. And a special thank you to Imola who was willing and flexible enough to be here for 4 full days instead of the originally planned 2.5 days to see as many clients as possible. All in all, we saw over 100 clients and handled 210 different matters as shown below:
84 passport matters
44 citizenship matters
68 registration matters (birth, marriage, divorce, death)
9 certification matters (document copies, translations)
2 name change matters
3 paternity matters
45th anniversary of the return of the Holy Crown of St. Stephen
Hungary celebrated the 45th anniversary of the return of the Holy Crown of St. Stephen, one of the most important symbols of Hungarian history and nationhood. The Holy Crown was returned to the Hungarian people by U.S. President Jimmy Carter and a ceremony was held on January 6, 1978, in the rotunda of the Hungarian Parliament. The decision of the return the Hungarian Crown – after the U.S. Government had sheltered it following World War II. – marked a significant historical milestone in U.S.-Hungarian relations.
Hungarian Tourism Resources
Not everyone has the opportunity to go home to or visit Hungary, and even if they do, there is usually not enough time to discover all corners of Hungary. These videos, travel guides and maps will help introduce Hungary’s tourist attractions.
Visit Hungary – YouTube
Visit Hungary
WOW Hungary (visithungary.com)
Sándor Petőfi was born 200 years ago
Two hundred years ago, on the first of January 1823, Sándor Petőfi, perhaps the most beloved poet of Hungarians, was born in Kiskőrös. Most Hungarians can recite at least one Petőfi poem, including the inspiring poem of the March 15 celebrations, the National Song. His landscape lyricism, love poetry, revolutionary poems, or narrative poems are all wonderful works. On the occasion of the bicentennial of the birth of one of the most prominent and well-known figures in Hungarian poetry, the Hungarian Parliament decided to declare 2022-2023 the year of remembrance of Sándor Petőfi. The series of celebrations has been joined by many museums from the capital, the countryside and even beyond. The year-round series of programs called Petőfi 200 primarily organizes programs, lectures and exhibitions that aim to present Petőfi and his era, i.e., they relate to the whole of the Reform Era, since it was then that modern Hungarian culture was born.
If you would like to learn more about the programs of the Petőfi Memorial Year, please keep an eye on the social media platform:
Imre Madách was born 200 years ago
Imre Madách, a poet, writer, lawyer, politician, and a prominent figure in Hungarian literature and drama poetry was born 200 years ago, on January 20, 1823.
He was born into a wealthy middle-noble family in Alsósztregova (now in Slovakia). He studied mostly privately, and when he graduated from the Piarist high school in Vác in 1837, he spoke several languages and was well informed in classical and modern literature. He studied humanities and then law at the University of Pest, passing the bar exam in 1842. During his time in Pest, he painted, studied music, and several of his writings appeared in the Athenaeum edited by Mihály Vörösmarty.
In the 1840s, Madách wrote poems, dramas and short stories, which are unpolished works full of pessimism. He enlisted in the National Guard in July 1848 but was unable to participate in the fighting due to a heart condition. After the fall of the War of Independence, he hid refugees, for which he was arrested by the authorities and spent a year in custody. When despotism temporary eased, he returned to public life, and in 1861 he was elected member of parliament for the Balassagyarmat district.
He finished writing his main work, The Tragedy of Man, on March 20, 1860, which, after edits by János Arany, was published on January 16, 1862. The work, divided into 15 acts and intertwined around the figures of Adam and Eve, seeks to explain the great questions of human existence, a large-scale attempt to interpret history. The Tragedy of Man is one of the outstanding works of Hungarian literature. Long considered unfit for stage performance, The Tragedy of Man was first performed at the National Theatre in 1883, directed by Ede Paulay. Since then, it has been performed by several Hungarian and foreign theaters and has been reproduced several times at the National Theatre. The new National Theatre, built on the banks of the Danube, opened on 15 March 2002 with this dramatic poem by Madách.
Madách was elected to the reform-age literary society ‘Kisfaludy Kör’ in 1862, and in 1863 he was accepted as a corresponding member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. On October 5, 1864, he died of heart failure at the age of 42 in Alsósztregova, where his tomb stands in the park of the castle.